


Aftermath

by callboxkat



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, sympathetic deceit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 08:38:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14787113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callboxkat/pseuds/callboxkat
Summary: Deceit has just escaped from one of the other “dark sides”, who had decided that it was time someone punished Deceit for his recent actions. He manages to escape, but gets lost, and collapses in the far reaches of the mindscape. He’s all but given up, but someone finds him.





	Aftermath

Deceit stared blankly at the opposite wall, breathing heavily. He was currently sitting against the wall of a hallway in the mindscape, one yellow-gloved hand clutching his wounded side as he struggled to catch his breath. He wasn’t sure where he was. The mindscape could be, theoretically, infinite, generating new rooms and hallways as the sides travelled through it. He could still be near where he had begun, or he could be miles away. Deceit couldn’t quite recall how far he’d managed to flee.

He had collapsed in this spot about ten minutes prior, unable to run anymore. Thankfully, he could no longer hear the loud, purposeful footsteps of his pursuer. He must have given up, deciding that Deceit wasn’t worth the trouble.

He wasn’t even sure what he had done to deserve such a beating. Sure, Thomas now knew who he was, and that the other “dark sides”, as Roman had dubbed them, existed, but that wasn’t _entirely_ Deceit’s fault. Besides, Thomas still didn’t know any specifics about the other dark sides, so the other side needn’t have been so angry. Although he almost always was.

Deceit sucked in a painful breath, sluggishly pushing his head off of the wall so that he could look down at his side. The bruises on his face throbbed as he stared down at his torso. Blood seeped between his fingers.

His vision swam, and he got a strange sense that he was falling despite already being on the floor, the wall all that was keeping him from being completely laying down.

He was dizzy, his whole body ached, and he was so, so tired.

Deceit’s punishment had occurred over a period lasting a few days. He had been dragged, kicking and yelling, into a dark room. He’d been beaten, deprived of sleep (sudden, loud sounds every minute or two was a good way to ensure that), and denied food and water. All without explanation other than that he deserved it for what he had done. What exactly he had done was never explained, so Deceit could only guess.

Deceit realized that his eyes had slipped shut, and he forced them open again. He had to stay alert. The other dark side still might find him.

…

Footsteps.

Deceit tried to raise his head towards the sound, but it felt like it weighed a ton.

The footsteps grew louder, and Deceit realized that he could hear laughter. Laughter that certainly didn’t belong to the side who had done this to him. There was no malice to it at all, just a childish glee.

Something ran past him. Brown, fluffy—a puppy? Deceit managed to get his head up, but the puppy was already gone. The footsteps, however, were not.

They slowed.

“Deceit?”

No, no, just go away!

The “light side” knelt before him. “Are you okay, kiddo?”

Deceit didn’t reply.

“Is that—is that blood?”

“Yes.” If Deceit told the truth, Patton would assume he was lying, and maybe he would leave.

The moral side, however, wasn’t fooled. He was pulling his cat hoodie—not a cardigan, as Deceit had foolishly worn at the theatre—from his shoulders, and moved to press it to Deceit’s wound.

He scrabbled at the wall, trying to move away “I want and need your help!” he cried, his voice annoyingly weak.

“Shut up and let me help you!” Patton snapped, grabbing him. “What on earth happened?”

Deceit gave up, slumping back against the wall. He couldn’t get away from Patton if he wanted to, he knew. The adrenaline from his escape had also all but worn off, and things were really starting to catch up with him.

“Deceit? Can you hear me, kiddo?”  Deceit noticed for the first time how scared Patton sounded. He really must look bad. “I’m—I’m gonna summon the others, so they can help.”

Deceit made a noise in the back of his throat, finding that he couldn’t quite form words. His vision was graying, and the falling sensation was back.

“What the hell—!”

“Patton! I thought we agreed no summoning without warning!”

“What…?”

Deceit barely heard the new voices.

“What the heck happened?”

He was aware that someone was shaking his shoulder, tapping on his face, but he was too out of it to move. He couldn’t’ even really see anymore.

“Deceit? Deceit, wake up!”

It was okay. The light sides might hate him, but they were the good aspects of Thomas’s personality. He could let go. They wouldn’t hurt him. Not like… not like Malice.

Deceit let go.

…

“…sure this isn’t a trick?”

“Roman, surely even Deceit would not go to such extremes for the sake of trickery.”

“He’s a snake, Logan! A slimy, lying snake! You don’t know what he would or wouldn’t do!”

“Guys, he just moved. I think he might be awake.”

“Deceit? Kiddo?”

Deceit let out a soft moan. He didn’t know where he was, or what was going on. He couldn’t figure out why people were yelling. He could understand what they were saying, but he wasn’t awake enough to put much meaning to the words.

“There you are.” Something cool and damp was dabbed gently across his forehead. It felt nice. “Can you open your eyes for me? I know you’re swollen, so maybe just the one?”

This voice spoke so sweetly that Deceit tried to do what it asked. He pulled himself towards full awareness, fighting to open his eyes. The right one refused to budge for some reason, but his left flickered open.

Faces hovered above him. His vision focused on them after a few seconds. The light sides. Patton looked hopeful, but worried. Logan looked curious. Virgil was apprehensive. And Roman looked wary.

“Hey, Deceit. Can you drink some water for me? You’re pretty dehydrated.”

A straw was put to his mouth, and Deceit took a sip. It might have been the best water he had ever tasted.

“Not too much just yet,” Logan advised as Deceit took another mouthful of water. The straw was taken away.

“Really, guys, this still feels like a trick,” Roman said, moving away.

“Roman, the guy can’t even stand,” Virgil pointed out. “Even if he wants to pull something, there’s four of us verses one guy who looks like a punching bag.”

Deceit’s eyelids were heavy. He was a little distressed about the yelling, about the light sides sending him away again, but it was so hard to stay awake….

“Roman, Deceit’s staying here, and that’s final,” Patton announced, his Dad Voice kicking in.

Deceit could have cried with relief.

“Fine, but I’m not letting him out of my sight. And he’s out of here as soon as he can walk!”

Deceit didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. He let sleep carry him away.

…

The other sides had gone to go about their business in the mindscape, leaving Patton alone with Deceit. Even Roman had eventually left, although he had insisted that Patton keep his sword, just in case. Patton had reluctantly agreed, although he had no intentions of using it.

He sat on the arm of the sofa, watching over the unconscious dark side. Occasionally he would switch out the washcloth that lay on his forehead, or check on the wound on his chest. Deceit was covered in bruises, the right side of his face swollen to near unrecognizability. A bag of frozen peas was helping to alleviate the swelling. It looked like someone left-handed had punched him repeatedly, and finally stabbed him. Who had done this? Why?

It made Patton angry. He didn’t get angry often, but to see someone in such a state, especially a part of the FamILY (“dark side” or not), filled him with a barely contained rage. At times his hands shook with it as he tended to Deceit.

It was only luck that had led him to the injured side in the first place. Roman, with his ability to conjure puppies, had created one for Patton to play with that day. The puppy had been very energetic, running through the mindscape, with Patton gleefully chasing after. And the puppy had run through a part of it that the sides seldom visited, as only Logan held much desire to determine how expansive the mindscape could become. The others were usually apprehensive of becoming lost, or in Roman’s case, preferred to design their own adventures rather than explore what could essentially become an endless maze.

He stayed there with Deceit until late in the night. It had been an exhausting day, stressing over the welfare of the injured side and trying to put him back together. Patton tried not to fall asleep, but he found himself occasionally dozing off. Roman found him there a little past midnight, only half-awake, and told him to go to bed.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” he had promised.

Patton had nodded sleepily before stumbling off to his room.

…

The next time Deceit woke up, he felt more aware of his surroundings. He was lying on one of two couches in what must have been the light sides’ common area, propped up on pillows and with a thick blanket over his legs.

The lights were dimmed, but he could see well enough. He could open both eyes this time, although just barely. Someone had removed his shirt, and there was a thick bandage around his torso. He tried not to wince at the bruises patterned across his skin.

There was a glass of water on the table at his side. Deceit tried to sit up, hissing in pain. He didn’t manage to sit up all the way, but he propped himself up on an elbow and downed the glass of water.

“Awake, are we, fiend?” a voice said. Deceit froze.

A man stepped into view, wielding a sword. Roman.

“No, I’m not awake,” Deceit said, his voice hoarse. “And I’m certainly hatching a villainous plan at this very moment.”

Roman frowned at him, sitting in a chair directly across from the couch. “Why else would you only choose to stir at 3 in the morning?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “You’d probably think this was the perfect time to strike, you snake.”

Deceit knew that Roman was just trying to protect his friends, but seriously, what could he even do if he wanted to con them?

“Roman, what are you doing?” That was Virgil.

“I’m keeping watch over our prisoner. Go back to bed.”

“Okay, for one thing, he’s not a prisoner. And why do you need a sword?”

“For self-defense!”

Virgil stepped into Deceit’s field of vision, looking down at the dark side with skepticism. “Roman, Patton said that we’re going to treat him like a guest. I don’t like him either, but I don’t think you usually take care of guests by wielding a sword in their face.”

Roman pouted at Virgil, probably annoyed that the anxious side was ruining his valiant hero vibe. Virgil rolled his eyes. He looked towards Deceit. “Do you want something to eat?”

Deceit slowly shook his head.

“Alright, what do you want?”

“Nothing sounds good,” he replied.

Virgil shrugged and headed into the kitchen. A few minutes later, he reappeared with a plate. Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were stacked on it. Deceit devoured the first of them greedily. He almost didn’t notice Virgil eyeing him.

“I should get the others,” Virgil said, not addressing anyone in particular. “I’ll be right back.” He looked towards Roman. “Try not to threaten him too much while I’m gone, okay?”

“Fiiine.”

And Virgil left.

Thankfully the awkward silence (in which Roman watched suspiciously and Deceit picked at the second sandwich) didn’t last very long. Patton came jogging into the room, followed by Virgil and Logan at a much slower pace.

“Deceit! You’re up!”

Deceit glanced around at them all. He felt… out of place. He’d never been to this part of the mindscape, so deep in the light sides’ domain. He usually only saw the light sides when he was travelling in ambiguously owned areas, or when one of them came to the dark sides’ part of the mind, or more recently, when they went to the real world. It was strange to see Patton looking at him with such care, and even Virgil held pity in his gaze. Roman’s reaction was more like he was used to, but he wasn’t being overtly hostile anymore.

Logan stepped forward and handed Deceit some pills and a glass of water. “These are painkillers,” he explained. “They won’t take away the pain entirely, but they will help.”

“Thanks,” Deceit murmured before downing the pills.

“What happened?” Virgil asked.

“Ah… well…” Deceit decided to tell the truth for once. “One of the dark sides was feeling less than amicable towards me, and decided to carry out what he felt was a suitable punishment. I managed to escape when he… when he stabbed me, and accidentally cut one of the ropes.”

The other sides shared glances, looking somewhat shocked. Roman’s sword lowered towards the floor.

“How do we know this is the truth?” Roman asked, not quite willing to let go of his suspicions yet.

Deceit sighed, settling back against the pillows. “If I wanted to trick you into pitying me, I would have shown up with a bruised cheekbone or something. I wouldn’t stab myself in the f—” he glanced towards Patton “—in the kidney.”

“You were not stabbed in the—”

“He’s not being literal, Logan,” Virgil sighed.

“Oh. My apologies.”

“Worry about it,” Deceit sighed, slipping back into his habit of always saying the opposite of what he meant.

Logan opened his mouth, then shut it again. Shaking his head, he turned and walked out of the room. “I am going back to bed. Fetch me if anything changes.”

Patton went to the kitchen and returned with a frozen bag of peas, which he handed to Deceit. “For your face,” he said. Deceit took the bag gratefully, and very tenderly put it against the right side of his face.

“I am going to get some rest as well,” Roman said. He glanced towards Deceit, less suspicious now, and began to leave, but paused. “Sorry about earlier. You’re not always a fiend.” With that, he departed.

…

Over the next few days, Deceit continued to improve. The others still tended to avoid looking at his face—when Deceit finally looked in a mirror, he found he couldn’t blame them—but he was improving. He was able to walk short distances with the help of the pain meds Logan supplied. He mostly stayed in the commons, sleeping on the couch, and never ventured into the light sides’ rooms.

None of them had heard anything from any of the dark sides, and Deceit didn’t believe that the light sides had tried to contact them to tell them that Deceit was with them. They probably assumed that he had crawled off somewhere in the mindscape to die, he thought. Which, essentially, he had, until Patton had found him.

Patton was still the only one who really treated him _kindly_ , but the others were slowly coming around, and they were saints when compared to what most of the dark sides were like. Compared to what Malice was like.

Deceit wasn’t looking forward to leaving.

…

“Hey, Deceit? Are you awake?”

He was, just barely, but Deceit kept his eyes shut. It had been a little over a week now since Patton had found him bleeding out in the mindscape’s labyrinth. He was almost healed at this point, so he knew it was only a matter of time before they banished him back to the other dark sides.

He had just about fallen back asleep when he felt a hand on his arm. “Come on, Deceit, wake up.”

“Mmmm.”

“Are you with me?”

“…No.”

“Come on, I want to talk to you.”

Deceit opened his eyes. Virgil was leaning over the sofa, peering down at him. He removed his hand from the dark side’s arm.

“Good evening,” Deceit said, his eyes flicking over to the morning light peeking through the blinds. The commons was made to look realistic, even though those windows didn’t truly lead outside.

“Hey,” Virgil replied as Deceit sat up. “So, um, the rest of us have been talking, and we have something we want to ask you.”

Deceit frowned. He looked around, and saw that Logan, Patton, and Roman were standing at the edge of the room. He studied their expressions. Logan’s was unreadable, but Patton was clearly nervously excited, and Roman looked conflicted.

“Well, don’t ask me already,” Deceit finally said.

“Do you want to stay with us?” Patton asked, the words coming out very quickly. He seemed unable to contain them any longer.

“I’m… not already here….” Deceit said haltingly, confused.

“Allow me to explain," said Logan. "We are asking you if you wish to remain here, indefinitely, with us “light sides”, as we have recently come to be known. We are reluctant to send you back to live with repressed aspects of Thomas’s personality who treat you so poorly. Even in spite of this more… emotional reason for you to be here, it would also make logical sense for you to move to this part of the mindscape, as Thomas now knows that you exist. You are no longer “in the dark”, as it were. You are, arguably, now a “light side”.”

Deceit stared at Logan as he finished his explanation.

“I think you broke him,” Roman said after a few seconds.

“Deceit?” Patton asked.

Deceit cleared his throat. “Um… yes. Yes, I’d like to stay.” Patton briefly started to look disappointed, but Deceit quickly added, “I’m telling the truth!”

“Really?”

“Yes. I want to stay.”

 

 


End file.
